“Mrs. Lincoln has written a cook-book; really written one, not made merely a compilation of receipts,—that sort of mechanical work any one can do who has patience enough to search for the rules, and system enough to arrange them. Mrs. Lincoln’s book is written out of the experience of life, both as a housekeeper and a teacher. Her long experience as principal of the Boston Cooking-School has enabled her to find out just what it is that people most want and need to know. I have no hesitation in recommending Mrs. Lincoln’s as the best cook-book, in all respects, of any I have seen. It is exactly fitted for use as a family authority, in that it is the work, not of a theorizer, but of a woman who knows what she is talking about. It is the very common-sense of the science of cookery.”—Extracts from Sallie Joy White’s letters in Philadelphia and Portland papers.
“Mrs. Lincoln’s ‘Boston Cook-Book’ is a characteristically American, not to say Yankee, production. Boston productions are nothing if not profound, and even this cookery manual must begin with a definition, a pinch of philology, and the culinary chemistry of heat, cold, water, air, and drying.... But a touch of the blue-stocking has never been harmful to cookery. This book is as deft as it is fundamental. It is so perfectly and generously up to everything culinary, that it cannot help spilling over a little into sciences and philosophy. It is the trimmest, best arranged, best illustrated, most intelligible, manual of cookery as a high art, and as an economic art, that has appeared.”—Independent.
“It is a pleasure to be able to give a man or a book unqualified praise. We have no fear in saying that Mrs. Lincoln’s work is the best and most practical cook-book of its kind that has ever appeared. It does not emanate from the chef of some queen’s or nobleman’s cuisine, but it tells in the most simple and practical and exact way those little things which women ought to know, but have generally to learn by sad experience. It is a book which ought to be in every household.”—Philadelphia Press.
“The ‘Boston Cook-Book’ has a special recommendation. The author, Mrs. Lincoln, was early trained to a love for all household work. That precious experience is a thing for which a cooking-school is no manner of substitute, while it is just the thing for professional training to build upon, widen, and correct. Mrs. Lincoln’s book is practical, and though there is much of theory, it gives proof of being based less upon theory and much upon experiment. The book is handsomely gotten up, and will ere long attest its usefulness in better food better prepared, and therefore better digested, in many homes.”—Leader.
“It is the embodiment of the actual experience and observation of a woman who has learned and employed superior domestic methods. It is the outcome of Mrs. Lincoln’s conscientious and successful labors for the development of practical cooking. It is to be recommended for its usefulness in point of receipts of moderate cost and quantity, in its variety, its comprehensiveness, and for the excellence of its typographical form.”—Boston Transcript.
“The instruction given by Mrs. Lincoln at the Boston Cooking-School is so widely and favorably known for its thoroughness and attention to scientific and economical principles, that a cook-book embodying these ideas and principles will be considered a great gain to the housekeeping department. In care and excellence, her book illustrates the modern advance in home cooking.”—Boston Journal.
“The book needs no other raison d’être than its own excellence. Every housekeeper in the land would be fortunate to have upon her shelf a copy of Mrs. Lincoln’s work.”—Boston Courier.
“Mrs. Lincoln’s book contains in one volume what most other cook-books contain in three; and its directions are always terse and to the point. It is a thoroughly practical book, and teaches us all how to live well and wisely every day in the year.”—The Beacon.
“The most valuable feature of Mrs. Lincoln’s Cook-Book is, without doubt, the application of scientific knowledge to the culinary art. Mrs. Lincoln has the gift of teaching, and its use in this connection is worthy of the warmest commendation. She has made the necessary explanations in a very lucid and succinct manner. To the thousands of intelligent housekeepers who recognize the importance of the art of the kitchen, this book will be a boon.”—Eclectic.
“The book, although at first sight it seems no larger than other cook-books, has over five hundred pages, and takes up the minutest details of housekeeping. Having examined all the standard cook-books now in the market, this seems superior to all. There is so much in this that is not found in other cook-books, that it is equal to a small library in itself.”—Extracts from Anna Barrow’s letters in Oxford and Portland papers.